Educational Software
Computers as teachers
Educational software encompassed everything from typing tutors to language learning programs, promising that computers could transform education.
Beyond games, educational software included typing tutors, encyclopaedias, language courses, and drill-and-practice programs. The 1990s CD-ROM era brought multimedia learning: talking dictionaries, virtual dissections, and interactive encyclopaedias. Some programs genuinely helped learning; others moved worksheets to screens and stopped there. The category evolved into today’s learning apps.
The British case was a state programme
⚠ This entry describes an American consumer market. In Britain the category was built by government. Primary-school software came from the Microelectronics Education Programme, and it arrived attached to a hardware subsidy.
By July 1984 the MEP pack, “developed by the MEP at a cost of about £100,000, has gone to 27,000 primary schools.”
It was not a BBC Micro monopoly, which is the usual assumption. The software “accompanies any machine which primary schools buy under an assisted purchase scheme”, and “schools can choose between the BBC, the 48K Spectrum, and the RML 480-Z.” The subsidy followed the school’s choice rather than dictating it — which is why a Spectrum could turn up in a classroom.
And the package was not software alone. It “includes teacher training material, as well as language and mathematical programs.” What was bought institutionally was a curriculum intervention with a disk in it, not a product.
Fast facts
- Types: tutors, drills, reference, simulation.
- CD-ROM boom: multimedia encyclopaedias, courses.
- School market: significant institutional purchasing — in Britain, state-funded: MEP software plus an assisted purchase scheme covering the BBC, 48K Spectrum and RML 480-Z.
- Home market: parents seeking educational value.
- Modern evolution: apps, online learning platforms.
Software categories
Educational software types:
- Drill and practice: repetitive skill building.
- Tutorials: guided instruction.
- Simulations: learning through experimentation.
- Reference: encyclopaedias, dictionaries.
- Tools: word processors, spreadsheets for students.
The CD-ROM era
Multimedia transformed education:
- Encyclopaedias: Encarta, World Book.
- Language learning: interactive courses.
- Science: virtual labs and dissections.
- Reference: massive databases on disc.